A Hindu-Buddhist dialogue was organised at Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Louisville, KY on January 5 as part of the cultural exchange programme. The main organisers were Dr Yashwant Pathak, Dr Hieu Tran and Shri Gaurav Shrivastava.
The whole programme was focused on interacting for idea of common beliefs between two world'sgreat ways of worship i.e. the Hinduism and Buddhism. The dialogue offered an opportunity to share the wonderful values of life not only with each other but also with the next generations and the humanity at large. Since both the ways of worship originated from the same Vedic and Sanatan Dharma traditions from Bharat, hence there is a lot of opportunity to enhance the spices between two ways of worship.
This is a fact that both Hinduism and Buddhism have the same roots, originated from the same Vedic and Sanatan Dharma traditions, have their holy places in many countries but the main holy places in Bharat, both believe in philosophies applicable to total humanity and human being in totality, both traditions are dharmic traditions than religions per say, they are more of a way of life, and have many commonalities within the philosophies, practicing the Dharmic traditions and rituals.
The dialogue helped in clearing the doubts about Hindus and Buddhists in the minds of other people, especially in the present scenario in the world we need to make it sure to the world who are we, what are our philosophies and why we are here, and how can we contribute positively to the world?
Prominent speakers who participated in the dialogue included Shri Sangay Gyatso, a senior and revered teacher who has been in a large part responsible for the survival and continued success of the Drepung Gomang Monastery in its mission to educate and train monks in the Buddhist philosophy of wisdom and compassion. His topic of speech was the Religious Diversity and Compassion. Second speaker was Shri Aswath, Columbus, Ohio who is a renowned Hindu scholar who had been involved in many Hindu article/books publications. His topic of speech was the spiritual basis of Karuna (compassion). Third speaker was Shri Thich Hanh Dat, who is a renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk. His topic of speech was the Benefits of Meditation. Others included Dr Vimal Patel, Dr Anila Ragade, Louisville, Dr C.L Prabhakar, Banglore, India and Dr R. Nagarajan, Louisville.
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